Heritage Landscapes vol.9

How do we cross botany to medicine and pharmacy? L'Arte della cura website, created by Chiesi, does this with voices, images, plants and stories.

Three chapters. One on botany, one on the history of pharmacy, one on values. The link between plants and health is ancient, dating back to the Neanderthals, to early Sapiens in search of the benefits that came from wild plants. The site runs through opinions and voices of researchers and professors, photos and archival materials. Between medieval and Renaissance herbaria, the discovery of new plants in the 18th century, the birth of Botanical Gardens, and chemical science beginning to be inspired by the ways plants communicate and interact with the environment. Between healers, magic, and the birth of the figure of the pharmacist.

The last chapter focuses on Giacomo Chiesi. On July 6, 1935, with 18,000 liras, he buys a small laboratory in Via XX Settembre, Parma, where ten workers, mainly women, will work. War comes, bombings, experimentation. History flows until digitization, new rules. But humanity's goal is always the same: to be inspired by plants, their enormous knowledge, to seek a cure.

For several years now, ICOM (International Council of Museums) has been organizing a day with the aim of putting museums - and the way we go through them - back on the map as educational, curious, living, creative spaces. This year the appointment is May 17, in the Agora Hall of the Milan Triennale, with the title Unlocking Knowledge. The day, promoted by Lavazza and ICOM, will feature moderation by Matteo Caccia, and guests such as Stefano Boeri, Francesca Lavazza, and Karole Vail. The event will be broadcast live on Lavazza's YouTube channel.

Giorgio Armani, Alvin Curran, Latifa Echakhch, Mario Martone and Francesco Vezzoli tell, each with their own art and in their own chapter, the myth of Maria Callas. Through Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2024, curated by Francesco Stocchi with installation by Margherita Palli, at the Museo Teatrale alla Scala. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the soprano's birth, here is an exhibition divided into five chapters, including dresses representing a voice, encounters with Ingeborg Bachmann, installations, musical compositions, and curtains made of pearls.

A series of appointments has begun at the Circolo del Design in Turin where great designers and planners, experimenters, designers and architects are explored. It is called Archives of Affection. 4 episodes (the last of which were “The House of Laura Castagno and Leonardo Mosso” and “Jana: The Universe of Alda Farinella”) where the focus falls on the material and immaterial legacy of these characters, discovering their archives, works and philosophies hidden with care, poetry. Among texts, images, exhibitions, insights, videos.

Credits: Chiesi Group; ICOM; Museo Teatrale alla Scala; Circolo del Design of Turin

On June 10, at Archivissima (the Festival of Archives conceived by Promemoria Group), there was an unprecedented live episode of the podcast Morgana. At the Gallerie d'Italia Turin we had the honor of hosting Michela Murgia and Chiara Tagliaferri, who took us into the life of the incredible translator and intellectual Fernanda Pivano. Dedicating an emotional portrait to her, the two writers retraced anecdotes, stories, the city of Turin, and characters such as Sottsass, Pavese, Hemingway, and Burroughs. Following the lines that led her to be the greatest Italian spokeswoman for American literature in the last century, and who with her life was able to open up new worlds and paths, from fashion to morality to literature.
Here is the full video of the meeting.